House prices fall for seventh straight month
by admin on 07/05/08 at 12:50 pm
According to recently released figures house prices in the UK have fallen for the seventh straight month, with the average house price now falling to £184,798. Figures show that the annual increase was 3.6% in March, and this compared to an increase of 5.3% in February. The data shows that month on month property prices in England and Wales fell by 0.4%. A number of surveys have indicated that March saw house prices fall for the seventh month, although the level by which prices fell have differed from one report to another.
These latest figures have come from the Land Registry, which uses actual sale prices of properties rather than basing figures on data received from mortgage lenders. Data has also shown that there has been a sharp drop in the number of properties being sold, with a 26% fall in the number of homes sold between October 2007 and January 2008 compare to the same period in 2006/2007.
The housing market continues to cool as a result of the global credit crunch, which has affected affordability as well as the ability of consumers to get mortgage loans in order to purchase a property. Lenders have tightened up on their lending criteria, and have also hiked up the cost of mortgages, making it increasing difficult for many people to get affordable finance.
First time buyers have also been hit hard, as despite the house price falls, which would have been good news for first time buyers, they are now having to find larger deposits in order to get a mortgage, have no access to 100% mortgages any longer, and have to meet the strict eligibility criteria now put into place by lenders.
